Two men rescued from burning house in Milton

Firefighters rescued two men from a three-alarm blaze that consumed much of a century-old home Wednesday morning and nearly forced one man to leap from a third-story window.

By Neal Simpson

The Patriot Ledger, Quincy, MA

By Neal Simpson

Posted Oct. 9, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Oct 9, 2013 at 9:19 AM

By Neal Simpson

Posted Oct. 9, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Oct 9, 2013 at 9:19 AM

MILTON

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Firefighters rescued two men from a three-alarm blaze that consumed much of a century-old home Wednesday morning and nearly forced one man to leap from a third-story window.

Firefighters from Milton, Boston, Quincy and Canton were sent to 244 Eliot St. starting around 10 a.m. and battled the blaze for nearly an hour and a half. Milton Fire Chief John Grant said two residents were rushed to the hospital, but he did not release their names or conditions Wednesday night.

Deputy Chief John Foley said one of the men, who appeared to be in his 80s, was “semi-conscious” when firefighters found him in a second-floor bedroom. Another man, in his 20s or 30s, was able to climb out of a third-floor window after firefighters reached him with a ladder.

“He was rapidly succumbing to smoke inhalation and the heat of the fire coming up behind him,” Foley said.

Andre Smith, a former Quincy resident who is visiting from Florida, said he happened to be driving down Eliot Street on his way to Mattapan when he saw the home engulfed in flames and pulled his car over. He said he heard screaming and ran to the back of the house, where he saw the man in his 20s or 30s leaning out of a window while another resident stood on the ground below.

“He was about to jump out of the damn window, and I was like, ‘Relax! Relax! This is not how it’s going to end,’” Smith said.

Smith said the man in the window told him there was another resident on the second floor, so he ran around to the front of the house but stopped when the doorknob was hot to the touch. He said firefighters arrived several minutes later.

Chief Grant said two dogs were also in the house. One dog was rescued by firefighters and the other managed to get out on its own.

Deputy Chief Foley said the fire appeared to have started on a second-floor porch. Investigators were still trying to determine the cause Wednesday night.

Foley said he arrived at the scene shortly after 10 a.m. to find most of the second and third floors in flames and the house filled with smoke.

Foley said firefighters had extinguished the flames by 11:30 but continued to search for pockets of fire into the afternoon. A building inspector determined that the building could be salvaged, but Foley said there was probably several hundred thousand dollars in damage from smoke, fire and water.

Police Chief Richard Wells said the house at 244 Eliot St. is “well-known” to the police department, which has responded to 14 calls for fights, noise complaints and other disturbances there since 2011.

Some neighbors told officers at the fire scene that residents of the house were heard arguing before the fire broke out, Wells said.

Page 2 of 2 - “I don’t know if there’s any nexus between that and the fire,” the chief said.

The three-story clapboard home was built around 1905 and is described in the Milton assessors’ database as a two-family home with a total of four bedrooms. It was last assessed at $340,000.